Reconfigurable multi-radio bridge

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems describe herein relate to a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge that may connect a local area network (LAN) with an access point (AP) or other WAP to the backhaul and may dynamically change and/or select transmission methods. An example implementation of a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge performs a method including discovering a topology of a network that includes one or more wireless stations (STAs), evaluating a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology, receiving a packet that identifies a first STA of the one or more STAs as an intended destination of the packet, selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, and sending the packet from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application claims the benefit of prior filed U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/756,008 filed on Nov. 5, 2018. The62/756,008 application is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The implementations discussed herein are related to a reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described herein arenot prior art to the claims in the present application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Home, office, stadium, and outdoor networks, a.k.a. wireless local areanetworks (WLAN) are established using a device called a Wireless AccessPoint (WAP). The WAP may include a router. The WAP wirelessly couplesall the devices of the local network, e.g. wireless stations such as:computers, printers, televisions, digital video (DVD) players, securitycameras and smoke detectors to one another and to the Cable orSubscriber Line through which Internet, video, and television isdelivered to the local network. Most WAPs implement the IEEE 802.11standard which is a contention based standard for handlingcommunications among multiple competing devices for a shared wirelesscommunication medium on a selected one of a plurality of communicationchannels. The frequency range of each communication channel is specifiedin the corresponding one of the IEEE 802.11 protocols being implemented,e.g. “a”, “b”, “g”, “n”, “ac”, “ad”, “ax”. Communications follow a huband spoke model with a WAP at the hub and the spokes corresponding tothe wireless links to each ‘client’ device.

After selection of a communication channel(s) for the associated localnetwork, access to the shared communication channel(s) relies on amultiple access methodology identified as Collision Sense MultipleAccess (CSMA). CSMA is a distributed random access methodology forsharing a single communication medium, by having a contendingcommunication link back off and retry access if a prospective collisionon the wireless medium is detected, i.e. if the wireless medium is inuse.

WAPs connect to a core or backbone network through a backhaul network orlink. Some backhaul links are wired. When backhaul technology changes,hardware in the WAPs that connects to wired backhauls may have to bechanged, which may increase costs and/or downtime in a network.Traditional network devices fail to effectively manage LANcommunications for wireless stations with multiple connection routes.

The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to implementations thatsolve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such asthose described above. Rather, this background is only provided toillustrate one example technology area where some implementationsdescribed herein may be practiced.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential characteristics of the claimed subject matter, nor is itintended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimedsubject matter.

Some example implementations described herein generally relate to areconfigurable multi-radio bridge. An example implementation of areconfigurable multi-radio bridge performing a method includesdiscovering a topology of a network that includes one or more wirelessstations (STAs); evaluating a metric for each of at least two routesdiscovered in the topology; receiving a packet that identifies a firstSTA of the one or more STAs as an intended destination of the packet;selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send thepacket based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching thefirst STA; and sending the packet from a reconfigurable multi-radiobridge over the selected route toward the first STA.

In an example systems, a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge can includememory and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, where theprocessor configured to discover a topology of a network that includesone or more wireless stations (STAs); evaluate a metric for each of atleast two routes discovered in the topology; receive a packet thatidentifies a first STA of the one or more STAs as an intendeddestination of the packet; select a route of the at least two routesover which to send the packet based on the metric, each of the at leasttwo routes reaching the first STA; and send the packet from areconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward thefirst STA.

In an example implementation, a non-transitory computer readable medium,comprising instructions that when execute by a processor, theinstructions to discover a topology of a network that includes one ormore wireless stations (STAs); evaluate a metric for each of at leasttwo routes discovered in the topology; receive a packet that identifiesa first STA of the one or more STAs as an intended destination of thepacket; selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to sendthe packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reachingthe first STA; and send the packet from a reconfigurable multi-radiobridge over the selected route toward the first STA.

In an example implementation, the network can include an access pointthe reconfigurable multi-radio bridge evaluates metrics for each ofmultiple routes, compare different metrics, and determine a preferredlink based on one or more of the metrics or an aggregation. An examplemethod can include determining a total duration to send the packet fromthe reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the AP and from the AP to thefirst STA, reserving a transmit opportunity (TXOP) equal to the totalduration. Then sending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge over the selected route toward the first STA can be done bysending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the APduring a first portion of the reserved TXOP, and the AP sends the packetto the first STA during a remainder portion of the reserved TXOP.

In another example implementation, a reconfigurable multi-radio bridgethat includes a first reconfigurable radio with a first transmit/receive(TX/RX) channel and a second TX/RX channel and a second reconfigurableradio with a third TX/RX channel and a fourth TX/RX channel. The firstreconfigurable radio can be configured to selectively transmit andreceive data on the first TX/RX channel or the second TX/RX channel, andthe second reconfigurable radio can be configured to selectivelytransmit and receive data on the third TX/RX channel or the fourth TX/RXchannel.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. Thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. These and other features of the present inventionwill become more fully apparent from the following description andappended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention asset forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To further clarify the above and other advantages and features of thepresent invention, a more particular description of the invention willbe rendered by reference to specific implementations thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that thesedrawings depict only typical implementations of the invention and aretherefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention willbe described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment in which areconfigurable multi-radio bridge may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the reconfigurable multi-radio bridgeof FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method of adaptive transmissioncontrol;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another example method of adaptive transmissioncontrol;

FIG. 5 illustrates a first example use case of the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates a second example use case of the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge FIG. 1;

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate a third example use case of thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a fourth example use case of thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a fifth example use case of thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate a sixth example use case of thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 illustrates a seventh example use case of the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 illustrates an eighth example use case of the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate a ninth example use case of thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge of FIG. 1,

all arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATIONS

Implementations described herein include a reconfigurable multi-radiobridge that may connect a local area network (LAN) with an access point(AP) or other WAP to the backhaul and may dynamically change and/orselect the transmission method, e.g., link selection, collaborativetransmission, distributed multiple-input and multiple output (MIMO)transmission, network allocation vector (NAV) sharing, and/or others,based on automatic topology detection and/or state metrics such astraffic, load, delay, throughput, and/or other state metrics. In theseand other implementations, the reconfigurable multi-radio bridgecontroller may bridge a backhaul network to an AP, may serve as an APfor one or more wireless stations (STAs), may be a dedicated relay inthe backhaul network, and/or may provide other features or functionalityas described herein.

Traditional network management approaches fail to effectively manage LANcommunications for network device with multiple changing connectionroutes. A typical LAN may connect to a fixed WAP and direct trafficbased on a fixed topology or default path assumptions. However,traditional LAN management approaches fail to maximize routing ofnetwork communications in consideration of changing connectionpermutations and in the presence of devices that can adaptively changeroles.

With the growing complexity of network configurations and the varietyand number of nodes on a wireless network, there is increasing need forimproved dynamic traffic management that can efficiently coordinatecommunication services with different routing options to number ofdevices. Aspects of example implementations described herein relate tosystems and methods for improving network management with a multi-bridgecontroller that evaluates routing options for a LAN with a variety ofnetwork devices.

In an example aspect of the present disclosure, a multi-radio bridgecontroller intelligently selects network segments or routes forcommunications with network devices of a LAN. The multi-radio bridgecontroller can configure network communications to utilize differentdimensions of a selected network segment for a station such asretransmission route, MU behavior, nulling, channel management,bandwidth allocation, etc. For example, the multi-radio bridgecontroller can coordinate with network devices to send traffic to astation on a selected route as well as on a specifically selectedchannel.

The multi-radio bridge controller can operate with various networkmanagement devices with downstream routing capabilities, for example,mesh nodes, switches, repeaters, extenders, etc. In an example aspect,the multi-radio bridge controller manages communication with a stationto and from the backhaul connection and/or within the LAN by identifyingmultiple routes available for communication with the station, evaluatingmetrics associated with each route, selecting one or more of the routesbased on the metrics, and re-routing network packets to the station viathe selected route. The controller can update communications routesand/or links to enable the station to avoid a link type, instructnetwork devices with downstream routing capabilities, re-configuringnetwork resources (e.g., buffering, reserving a channel, etc.).

In an example, the LAN may include multiple access points (e.g.,gateway, mesh nodes, repeater, etc.) and a station that is capable ofconnecting to an access point directly and/or through one or moreintermediate nodes. In an example, the multi-radio bridge controller canemploy precoding and coordinate access points to form a distributed MIMOtransmitter. The multi-radio bridge controller can enable morecommunication options by coordinating or configuring training behaviorof a selected network segment. The multi-radio bridge controller enablesdynamic optimal route selection bases on metrics for the station, thepossible routes, and/or other aggregate metrics of the networkcommunications. For example, the multi-radio bridge controller can baseits decision on a combination of channel state information, linkquality, delay time, number of hops, jitter, and/or other metrics. Asthe network traffic, station behavior, and/or LAN performance changes,the multi-radio bridge re-evaluates the metrics to determine whether toselect a different route for the communicating with station.

In another example implementation, the multi-radio bridge controller candirect stations to the backhaul and avoid connection to the WAP. In anexample, a station may be able to connect to WAP and the backhaulconnection where connection to the backhaul can require a specificauthorization, credentials, or account (e.g., cellular service). In thisexample, the multi-radio bridge controller can identify stationcapabilities, confirm direct backhaul authorization for the STA, anddetermine to avoid or deny WAP connection for the STA to connect withthe backhaul. For example, a multi-radio bridge controller can determineto route a backhaul credentialed STA to directly connect with thebackhaul network by avoiding or denying the WAP connection basedbackhaul connection strength, LAN performance, STA request type, etc.

Further, the multi-radio bridge controller can improve overall LANperformance and error handling. In an example aspect, the multi-radiobridge controller can be configured to manage communications withmultiple network devices to optimize the LAN performance. In an example,the multi-radio bridge controller can configure default routes forcertain types of network devices or traffic, sample network performancemetrics, evaluate the metrics, and update the routes to optimize typesof network devices, prioritize traffic, improve overall performance,etc. For example, a main transmission may be sent over one route, suchfrom a bridge to a first AP then to station, and the multi-radio bridgecontroller can direct retransmissions to be sent over a different route,such as from a bridge directly to the station or through a differentintermediary node.

Moreover, the multi-radio bridge controller can intelligently selectnetwork segments or routes for communications with network devices withpredictive calculations or triggers (e.g., heuristics, thresholds, errordetection, intrusion detection, etc.). In some implementations themulti-radio bridge controller can be operatively connected to a remoteanalytics and storage resources.

In an example implementation, the multi-radio bridge controller operatesin a fixed wireless network that to connect multiple locationswirelessly and manages communications with network devices capable ofone or more different connection types such as wired, wireless,cellular, laser, mm Wave, Bluetooth, etc. In an example, a residentialLAN can connect with a mmWave backhaul to a fixed cellular tower and themulti-radio bridge operates to intelligently control stations associatedwith the residential LAN to optimize communication performance aparticular station and/or the LAN. For example, the multi-radio bridgecontroller can direct wireless communications to a mobile device throughan intermediary node based on proximity, re-direct wirelesscommunications directly to the mobile device based on priority traffic(e.g., teleconference video), and/or disconnect the mobile device fromthe LAN to enable cellular communication as it leaves coverage of theLAN (e.g., when the load on the LAN increases).

In another example implementation, the multi-radio bridge controller canintelligently select network segments or routes for communications withnetwork devices based on classification or tagging of links. Forexample, the multi-radio bridge controller can detect a type of traffic(e.g., streaming video, edge IoT, etc.) to or from a STA, and classifyor tag the STA for a performance level or prioritization (e.g., highquality of service, scheduled, etc.) and reconfigure the link for theSTA based on the traffic type and or prioritization in addition to orindependent of metrics.

Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe various aspectsof example implementations of the invention. It is to be understood thatthe drawings are diagrammatic and schematic representations of suchexample implementations, and are not limiting of the present invention,nor are they necessarily drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment 100 in which areconfigurable multi-radio bridge 102 (“bridge 102”) may be implemented,arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. The environment 100 additionally includes a base station 104.The environment 100 may further include a LAN that includes one or moreAPs 106 and/or one or more STAs 108, and/or the environment may furtherinclude one or more other reconfigurable multi-radio bridges 110(“bridge 110”).

The base station 104 may generally include a transceiver configured towirelessly connect one or more devices, such as the bridges 102, 110,the AP 106, and/or the STA 108, to a network, such as a core networkand/or a backbone network. The base station 104 may provide a backhaullink 112 to the other devices. The base station 104 may include a basetransceiver station (BTS), an eNodeB, a Node B, a cell tower, such as asuper cell tower, a macro cell tower, or a micro cell tower, and/or thebase station 104 may include other suitable hardware to connect wirelessdevices to the network.

The bridge 102 may include a first reconfigurable radio 102A and asecond reconfigurable radio 102B. The first reconfigurable radio 102Amay include two or more different transmit/receive (TX/RX) channels.Similarly, the second reconfigurable radio 102B may include two or moredifferent TX/RX channels. Thus, the bridge 102 may include four or moreTX/RX channels. The first reconfigurable radio 102A and the secondreconfigurable radio 102B can be transmit/receive on the same ordifferent carrier frequencies. For example, the first reconfigurableradio 102A can be cellular, mmWave, television white band spaces, etc.and the second reconfigurable radio 102B can be at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6GHz, etc. In another example, the first reconfigurable radio 102A andthe second reconfigurable radio 102B can both be operating on the samecarrier frequency (e.g., cellular, mmWave, television white band spaces,2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, etc.).

Each of the TX/RX channels may be arranged to communicate at anysuitable desired frequency and/or frequency band, but in at least oneimplementation is arranged to communicate using centimeter (cm) wave,millimeter (mm) wave, or microwave frequency wireless signals. Forexample, each of the TX/RX channels of the bridge 102 may operate in acm wave band such as the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band, the 5 GHz band, orthe 6 GHz band; a microwave frequency band such as the 28 GHz band; or amm wave band such as the 60 GHz band. In an implementation, at least oneof the TX/RX channels of the first reconfigurable radio 102A maycommunicate in the 6 GHz band, the 28 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band withthe base station 104 over the backhaul link 112. In an implementation,at least one of the TX/RX channels of the second reconfigurable radio102B may communicate in the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band with the AP106 over a link 114, with the STA 108 over a link 116, and/or with thebridge 110 over a link 118. Alternatively or additionally, at least oneof the TX/RX channels of the second reconfigurable radio 102B maycommunicate in the 6 GHz band, the 28 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band withthe bridge 110 over the link 118. Each TX/RX channel of the bridge 102may operate in accordance with a corresponding standard, e.g., any ofthe IEEE 802.11 standards or other standards.

The bridge 110 may be configured in the same or similar manner as thebridge 102. The bridge 110 may connect to the core network via the link118, the bridge 102, the backhaul link 112, and the base station 104.

The AP 106 may include a gateway, a repeater, a mesh node, and/or othersuitable access point for wireless stations or devices such as the STA108. The AP 106 may connect to the core network via the link 116, thebridge 102, the backhaul link 112, and the base station 104. In someimplementations, the AP 106 may further connect to the core network viathe bridge 110 and a link 120.

The STA 108 may generally include any device that has the capability towirelessly connect to the AP 106, the bridge 102, and/or the bridge 110,e.g., according to any of the 802.11 standards or other suitablewireless standard. The STA 108 may include a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, mobile phone, a smartphone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a smart television, or any other suitablewireless station. In an example implementation, the STA 108 may connectto the core network via a link 122, the AP 106, the link 116, the bridge102, the backhaul link 112, and the base station 104. In another exampleimplementation, the STA 108 may connect to the core network via a link124, the bridge 110, the link 118, the bridge 102, the backhaul link112, and the base station 104. In another example implementation, theSTA 108 may bypass the AP 106 and the bridge 110 and may connect to thecore network via the link 114, the bridge 102, the backhaul link 112,and the base station 104.

The bridge 102 may facilitate one or more of a variety of transmissionmethods mentioned briefly here followed by further descriptionselsewhere, e.g., with respect to FIGS. 5-13B. The bridge 102 can controltransmission methods using different implementations such as employinglogic added to and/or incorporated as part of local network device ofthe LAN, e.g., as described with respect to FIGS. 2-4. In some examples,the bridge 102 can include a local LAN multi-radio bridge controlleragent operatively connected with virtual or remote processing resources(e.g., cloud computing) to perform operations described herein. Exampleaspects of the present disclosure improve LAN performance, networkefficiency, signal coverage, and error handling with multiple differenttypes of access points and changing connection permutations.

In an implementation, the bridge 102 may be an AP for one or more STAssuch as the STA 108. The AP 106 may be altogether absent in thisimplementation or the STA 108 may have a better link to the bridge 102than to the AP 106. One or more other STAs may have a preferred link tothe AP 106 than to the bridge 102 and may directly access (e.g., withoutone or more intermediary nodes) the AP 106 rather than the bridge 102,where the AP 106 in turn accesses the core network through, e.g., thebridge 102, the backhaul link 112, and the base station 104.

In another implementation, the LAN may include two or more APs 106 suchas a gateway and a repeater and one or more STAs 108. The STAs 108 mayconnect to the bridge 102 directly and/or through one or both of therepeater and the gateway. Based on one or more metrics for each ofmultiple routes to each of the STAs 108, traffic (e.g., packets) foreach STA 108 may be sent to the corresponding STA 108 over an optimalroute, e.g., a route to the corresponding STA 108 that has or results ina better metric or better aggregate metrics compared to another route tothe corresponding STA 108. The one or more metrics may include linkquality, delay, number of hops, jitter, and/or other metrics. Themetric(s) may change over time and traffic may be switched accordingly.

In another implementation, the LAN may include two or more STAs 108where a first STA 108 connects directly to the bridge 102 and a secondSTA 108 connects directly to the AP 106. One or both of the bridge 102and the AP 106 may provide active interference nulling for simultaneoustransmission of different packets from the bridge 102 to the first STA108 and from the AP 106 to the second STA 108. For example, the bridge102 and the AP 106 may coordinate to effect simultaneous transmission ofa first packet from the bridge 102 to the first STA 108, a second packetfrom the AP 106 to the second STA 108, and at least one of: a nullingsignal from the AP 106 to the first STA 108 or a nulling signal from thebridge 102 to the second STA 108.

In another implementation, the bridge 102 and the AP 106 may form adistributed MIMO transmitter to send traffic to the STA 108. Forexample, the bridge 102 and the AP 106 may coordinate to effectsimultaneous transmission of a packet from the AP 106 directly to theSTA 108 and from the bridge 102 directly to the STA 108. In this andother implementations, the bridge 102 and AP 106 may use differentprecoders when operating independently than when coordinating as adistributed MIMO transmitter.

In one or more of the above implementations, traffic may be transmittedfrom the bridge 102 to the STA 108 directly or through the AP 106 wherethe particular route (e.g., direct or through the AP 106) may depend on,e.g., channel conditions of each of the routes. Alternatively, differenttraffic with at least one nulling signal may be simultaneouslytransmitted from the bridge 102 and the AP 106 to two STAs 108 and/ortraffic may be transmitted to the STA 108 simultaneously from both thebridge 102 and the AP 106. In another implementation, main transmissionsmay be sent over one route, such from the bridge 102 to the AP 106 tothe STA 108, while any retransmission may be sent over another route,such as from the bridge 102 directly to the STA 108.

In another implementation, the bridge 102 may improve coverage for STAs108 that have associated with the AP 106 in the past and move tolocations with inadequate coverage from the AP 106 that have adequatecoverage from the bridge 102. In this and other implementations, thebridge 102 may periodically or in response to a trigger replicate abasic service set (BSS) of the AP 106. If link setup occurs, e.g., ifthe STA 108 sends an association request to the bridge 102, the bridgemay maintain the BSS and establish a link directly between the STA 108and the bridge 102 to send traffic to the STA 108 while bypassing the AP106.

In another implementation, the bridge 102 may extend the backhaul link112 to the bridge 110. For example, if the bridge 110 is shadowed fromthe base station 104 or otherwise lacks adequate coverage from the basestation 104, the bridge 102 may extend the backhaul link 112 to thebridge 110, in which case the link 118 may be referred to as a backhaulrelay link 118. In this implementation, the first reconfigurable radio102A and the second reconfigurable radio 102B may be configured tooperate at the same frequency and/or frequency band. Alternatively, thebridge 102 may adaptively reconfigure itself, e.g., the secondreconfigurable radio 102B, to selectively provide a WAP link 118 to thebridge 110 and a backhaul relay link 118 to the bridge 110.

In the above and/or other implementations, a determination of which ofmultiple particular transmission methods to use may be made individuallyby the bridge 102, individually by the AP 106, or jointly by the bridge102 and the AP 106. Joint determinations may be made at setup time andmay include a setup time handshake. Alternatively or additionally, jointdeterminations may specify a trigger that, when detected, causes thebridge 102 and/or the AP 106 to adaptively change or select thecorresponding transmission method.

For example, the multi-radio bridge controller can make a jointdetermination with a mesh AP. The mesh AP can inform the multi-radiobridge about the traffic characteristics (e.g., amount of traffic,number of hops, link quality, channel characteristics, etc.). Themulti-radio bridge can perform packet inspection to deduce one or moreof the traffic characteristics. In another example employing a mesh AP,more accurate traffic characteristics can be provided to the multi-radiobridge in a more efficient manner directly via the mesh AP rather thanmeasuring from direct packet inspection. In response to trafficcharacteristics from the mesh AP, the multi-radio bridge can select thecorrect routing of the packet.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the bridge 102 of FIG. 1, arranged inaccordance with at least one implementation described herein. Asillustrated, the bridge 102 includes the first reconfigurable radio 102Aand the second reconfigurable radio 102B and may further include abridge controller 202 and a non-volatile memory 204 or othercomputer-readable storage medium.

The first reconfigurable radio 102A may include a first TX/RX channel206A and a second TX/RX channel 206B. The second reconfigurable radio102B may similarly include a first TX/RX channel 206C and a second TX/RXchannel 206D. Each of the TX/RX channels 206A, 206B, 206C, 206D(collectively “TX/RX channels 206”) may generally be configured totransmit data to and/or receive data from other nodes. The term node maybroadly include any wireless communication node, such as a base station,an AP, a STA, another reconfigurable multi-radio bridge, or other nodecapable of wireless communication.

Each of the TX/RX channels 206 may include a baseband (BB) circuit, aradio frequency (RF) circuit, a front end module (FEM), and an antennaor antenna array. In more detail, the first TX/RX channel 206A of thefirst reconfigurable radio 102A may include a first BB circuit 208A, afirst RF circuit 210A, a first FEM 212A, and a first antenna 214A. Thesecond TX/RX channel 206B of the first reconfigurable radio 102A mayinclude the first BB circuit 208A, a second FEM 212B, and a secondantenna 214B. The second TX/RX channel 206B of the first reconfigurableradio 102A may further include the first RF circuit 210A or a second RFcircuit 210B.

Analogously, the first TX/RX channel 206C of the second reconfigurableradio 102B may include a second BB circuit 208B, a third RF circuit210C, a third FEM 212C, and a third antenna 214C. The second TX/RXchannel 206D of the second reconfigurable radio 102B may include thesecond BB circuit 208B, a fourth FEM 212D, and a fourth antenna 214D.The second TX/RX channel 206D of the second reconfigurable radio 102Bmay further include the third RF circuit 210C or a fourth RF circuit210D.

Each of the first and second reconfigurable radios 102A, 102B isillustrated in FIG. 2 as including two TX/RX channels. More generally,each of the first and second reconfigurable radios 102A, 102B mayinclude two or more TX/RX channels.

The first reconfigurable radio 102A is configured to selectivelytransmit and receive data on the first TX/RX channel 206A or the secondTX/RX channel 206B. Each of the first TX/RX channel 206A and the secondTX/RX channel 206B may operate at a different frequency and/or frequencyband than the other. For example, the first TX/RX channel 206A may beused for a backhaul link, e.g., at the 28 GHz frequency band, while thesecond TX/RX channel 206B may be used for a WAP link, e.g., at the 5 GHzfrequency band.

Analogously, the second reconfigurable radio 102B is configured toselectively transmit and receive data on the first TX/RX channel 206C orthe second TX/RX channel 206D. Each of the first TX/RX channel 206C andthe second TX/RX channel 206D may operate at a different frequencyand/or frequency band than the other. For example, the first TX/RXchannel 206C may be used for a backhaul link, e.g., at the 28 GHzfrequency band, while the second TX/RX channel 206D may be used for aWAP link, e.g., at the 5 GHz frequency band.

The TX/RX channels 206A, 206B, 206C, 206D may be collectively referredto as TX/RX channels 206. The BB circuits 208A, 208B may be collectivelyreferred to as BB circuits 208. The RF circuits 210A, 210B, 210C, 210Dmay be collectively referred to as RF circuits 210. The FEMs 212A, 212B,212C, 212D may be collectively referred to as FEMs 212. The antennas214A, 214B, 214C, 214D may be collectively referred to as antennas 214.

In each of the BB circuits 208, wireless communications transmitted toor received from each node that communicates with the bridge 102 may beprocessed. Each of the BB circuits 208 may support single and/ormulti-user communications with the nodes. Each of the BB circuits 208may include one or more equalizers, one or more automatic gaincontrollers, one or more encoders (e.g., a forward error correction(FEC) encoder), one or more decoders (e.g., a FEC decoder), one or morebit interleavers, one or more constellation mappers, one or moreprecoders, one or more bit deinterleavers, one or more constellationdemappers, and/or other suitable circuit elements.

Each of the RF circuits 210 may upconvert wireless transmissionsinitiated in the corresponding BB circuit 208. Each of the RF circuits210 may also downconvert incoming transmissions received on thecorresponding antenna 214 and may pass them for further processing tothe corresponding BB circuit 208. Each of the RF circuits 210 mayinclude one or more analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), one or moredigital-to-analog converters (DACs), one or more RF filters, one or moreupconverters, one or more downconverters, and/or other suitable circuitelements.

Each of the FEMs 212 may include one or more analog circuit elements toprocess RF transmissions outbound from the corresponding RF circuit 210or RF transmissions inbound to the corresponding RF circuit 210. EachFEM 212 may include one or more phase controllers, one or more RFcontrollers, one or more mixers, one or more gain elements such as oneor more low noise amplifiers (LNAs), and/or other suitable circuitelements.

Each of the antennas 214 may include a single antenna with one or moresectors, or multiple antennas each with one or more sectors. One or moreof the antennas 214 may be steerable.

In an example implementation, the bridge controller 202 may beinstantiated by a processor circuit 216 executing program code 204Astored on the non-volatile memory 204. The bridge controller 202 maygenerally be configured to control the configuration of each of thefirst and second reconfigurable radios 102A, 102B and to adaptivelychange or select a transmission method of the bridge 102. The bridgecontroller 202 may include a detector 202A, a metric collector 202B, anevaluator 202C, and a selector/scheduler 202D. Topology can include, butis not limited to, detection of network segments within the LAN as wellas connection capabilities of stations independent of the LAN. Forexample, detector 202A can determine radio characteristics andtransmission capabilities of each station. In an example implementation,detector 202A can determine a mobile computing device is connected tothe LAN via an ethernet cable but also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, satellite,cellular, etc. capabilities. For example, detector 202A may detect nodecapabilities through protocol discovery features, request nodes reportcommunication capabilities, and/or maintain an inventory of devicesassociated with the network. The detector 202A may detect a node iscapable of connecting to the LAN simultaneously with a wired andwireless connection.

In an example implementation, one or more of the RF circuits 210A-D mayconvert their carrier frequency and BB data into an intermediatefrequency. For example, the RF circuits 210A-D may convert forimplementing more efficient filters or other RF components thanfiltering or similar activities on the carrier frequency.

In an example implementation, the example RF circuits 210A-D can includemixer and local oscillator to perform intermediate frequency shifting(not shown). For example, since when any of the involved frequencies inthe RF circuits 210A-D are close to each other (e.g., close enoughfrequencies that can cause signal leakage), the mixer and localoscillator can shift one or more of the intermediate frequencies toanother range (e.g., a symbiotic frequency) to reduce or preventleakage. For example, the conversion can happen inside the RF circuit210C or a dedicated component such as RF circuit 210D. In an example,the input to the RF components can come from separate BB components. TheRF may also include additional shielding units to further reduce orprevent leakage.

In an example where the RF circuit 210A is operating at 5 GHz and the RFcircuit 210C is operating at 28 GHz with an intermediate frequency at 5GHz there is a potential for leakage of signal between the RF circuit210A and the RF circuit 210C due to the common frequency. The RF circuit210C can shift the intermediate frequency at 5 GHz to 5.4 GHz to reduceor prevent the leakage with the RF circuit 210A operating at 5 GHz.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method 300 of adaptive transmissioncontrol, arranged in accordance with at least one implementationdescribed herein. The method 300 may be implemented, in whole or inpart, by one or more of the bridge 102, the bridge 110, and/or the AP106. Alternatively or additionally, execution of the bridge controller202 by the processor device 216 may cause the processor device 216 toperform or control performance of one or more of the operations orblocks of the method 300.

The method 300 may include one or more of blocks 302, 304, 306, 308,and/or 310. In more detail, the method 300 may include metric collectionat block 302, topology detection at block 304, metric evaluation atblock 306, config selection at block 308, and dynamic scheduling atblock 310. An example implementation of the method 300 by the bridgecontroller 202 will be discussed with combined reference to FIGS. 2 and3.

According to an example implementation, at block 304 the detector 202Adiscovers a topology of a network that includes one or more STAs and/orother nodes. The detector 202A, alone or together with an AP in thenetwork, may use regular data transmission and sniffing to discover thenetwork topology and/or may discover the network topology in any othersuitable manner. The detector 202A can detect changes in the networktopology (e.g., added or unavailable access points). For example,detector 202A may periodically scan the network or repeat scanning inresponse to error message.

At block 302, the metric collector 202B may collect one or more metricsof the network, which may include collecting one or more metrics for oneor more routes and/or nodes in the network. The metrics may be stored inthe non-volatile memory 204 or a remote repository. For example, themetrics may include, e.g., channel state information (CSI), receivedsignal strength indicator (RSSI), other measure of link quality, delay,number of hops, jitter, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), clearchannel assessment (CCA) level, interference, estimated throughput,airtime, load on the bridge 102 and/or AP, traffic priority, routecongestion, and/or other suitable metrics.

Some metrics may change over time and the metric collector 202B mayperiodically recollect such metrics at block 302 and update the metrics204B in the non-volatile memory 204. Some metrics may be static orrelatively static over time and may be saved longer term locally at thebridge 102 and/or remotely. The static or relatively static metrics maynot be recollected at all, may be recollected with less frequency thanthe more variable metrics, or recollected in response to a trigger(e.g., performance threshold, network device change, error handling,etc.). Metric collector 202B can further maintain models of metrics,aggregate statistics, and generate predictive calculations to supportthe functions of the bridge controller 202.

At block 306, the evaluator 202C may evaluate the collected metrics inview of the discovered network topology and determine which of multipleroutes and/or nodes has a better metric or metrics in comparison toother routes and/or nodes. The evaluator 202C may also initiate trainingand/or may assign route weights to various routes based on the evaluatedmetrics to determine a preferred route and/or node. For an examplestation, a route through the closest access point may have a betterdelay metric than a different access point, but the evaluator 202C candetermine a higher error metric for that example station with theclosest access point and select and weight the route with the differentaccess point as preferred. The metrics and/or route weights may be savedin lookup tables in the non-volatile memory 204 or other location.

At block 308, the selector/scheduler 202D may select a particular routeand/or transmission method for sending traffic to a corresponding STA.The selector/scheduler 202D may also select applicable training and/orprecoding for the selected route and/or transmission method which may beshared with other nodes in the network, such as with the AP. Theselector/scheduler 202D or other portion of the bridge controller 202may periodically populate the lookup tables with appropriate valuescorresponding to the selected route, transmission method, training,and/or precoding. The selected route, transmission method, training,and/or precoding may be fixed or adaptive (e.g., in response to changingmetrics and/or topology).

At block 310, the selector/scheduler 202D may schedule packets fordelivery to the STA over the selected route and/or using the selectedtransmission method. If the bridge 102 is operating in an adaptivemanner, the selector/scheduler 202 may adaptively or dynamically switchtraffic (e.g., to a different route and/or to a different transmissionmethod) in response to changing metrics and/or topology.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that, for this and otherprocesses and methods disclosed herein, the functions performed in theprocesses and methods may be implemented in differing order.Furthermore, the outlined steps and operations are only provided asexamples, and some of the steps and operations may be optional, combinedinto fewer steps and operations, or expanded into additional steps andoperations without detracting from the essence of the disclosedimplementations.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another example method 400 of adaptivetransmission control, arranged in accordance with at least oneimplementation described herein. The method 400 may be implemented, inwhole or in part, by one or more of the bridge 102, the bridge 110,and/or the AP 106. Alternatively or additionally, execution of thebridge controller 202 by the processor device 216 may cause theprocessor device 216 to perform or control performance of one or more ofthe operations or blocks of the method 400.

At block 402, the method 400 may include discovering a topology of anetwork that includes one or more STAs and/or other nodes. For example,the network may also include one or more APs, another reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge, and/or other nodes.

At block 404, the method 400 may include evaluating a metric for each ofat least two nodes and/or routes discovered in the topology.

At block 406, the method 400 may include receiving a packet thatidentifies a first STA of the one or more STAs as an intendeddestination of the packet.

At block 408, the method 400 may include selecting a route of the atleast two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, eachof the at least two routes reaching the first STA.

At block 410, the method 400 may include sending the packet from areconfigurable multi-radio bridge, such as the bridge 102 of FIGS. 1 and2, over the selected route toward the first STA.

In an implementation, the packet may be received in a first frequencyband via a first reconfigurable radio of the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge. Alternatively or additionally, the packet may be sent in asecond frequency band via a second reconfigurable radio of thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge. The first and second frequency bandsmay be the same or different.

In an implementation, the method 400 can include performing intermediatefrequency shifting where receiving includes converting a carrierfrequency into an intermediate frequency and sending includes convertinga baseband signal into an intermediate frequency. Since thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge can have multiple radios operating atfrequencies close to each other that can cause signal leakage, thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge can shift intermediate frequencies toanother range to reduce or prevent signal leakage between the multipleradios.

FIG. 5 illustrates a first example use case of the bridge 102 of FIG. 1,arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. FIG. 5 illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 500 at a house,building, or other location 502. The LAN 500 may include the AP 106, afirst STA 108A, a second STA 108B, and a third STA 108C. In FIG. 5 andsubsequent Figures, the first and second reconfigurable radios 102A,102B of the bridge 102 are labeled, respectively, R₁ and R₂. In FIG. 5and subsequent Figures, the first reconfigurable radio R₁ of the bridge102 or of other reconfigurable multi-radio bridges herein may connect toa base station and/or backhaul (see backhaul link 112 in FIG. 1) orbackhaul relay, while the second reconfigurable radio R₂ may connect toa LAN (e.g., the LAN 500 in FIG. 5), an AP, a STA, another bridge, orother network or node.

In FIG. 5, the first STA 108A and the second STA 108B may have a betterdirect link to the AP 106 than to the bridge 102. In comparison, thethird STA 108C may have a better direct link to the bridge 102 than tothe AP 106. Accordingly, traffic to the first STA 108A and the secondSTA 108B may be routed through the AP 106 rather than directly from thebridge 102 to the first STA 108A and the second STA 108B, while trafficto the third STA 108C may be routed directly from the bridge 102 to thethird STA 108C. If the various link qualities change due to movement ofthe STAs 108A, 108B, 108C or for other reasons, the bridge 102 and/orthe AP 106 may adaptively adjust traffic routes to the affected STAs108A, 108B, 108C.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, evaluating the metric for eachof the at least two routes at block 404 may include determining linkquality of a first link between the AP 106 and the third STA 108C and ofa second link between the bridge 102 and the third STA 108C anddetermining which of the first link and the second link has higher linkquality. Selecting the route based on the metric at block 408 mayinclude selecting the first link or the second link that has the higherlink quality. If the first link is selected at block 408, sending thepacket over the selected route at block 410 may include sending thepacket from the bridge 102 to the AP 106 for the AP 106 to send to thethird STA 108C. If the second link is selected at block 408, sending thepacket over the selected route at block 410 may include sending thepacket from the bridge 102 directly to the third STA 108C.

FIG. 6 illustrates a second example use case of the bridge 102 of FIG.1, arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. FIG. 6 illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 600 at a house,building, or other location 602. The LAN 600 may include the AP 106, thefirst STA 108A, the second STA 108B, the third STA 108C, and a repeater604.

In FIG. 6, metrics such as link quality, number of hops, delay, orjitter may be evaluated for each of multiple routes to a given STA, suchas the third STA 108C. A first route from the bridge 102 to the STA 108Cincludes links labeled 1, 3, and 4 in FIG. 6. A second route from thebridge 102 to the STA 108C includes links labeled 2 and 4 in FIG. 6. Thebridge 102 and/or the AP 106 may determine which route to use based onone or more of the metrics. A single metric may be used or acombination. If hops is the only metric used, for example, the secondroute that includes links 2 and 4 may be used for traffic to the thirdSTA 108C since it has fewer hops than the first route that includeslinks 1, 3, and 4. Alternatively, if link quality is the only metricused and the first route that includes links 1, 3, and 4 has better linkquality than the second route that includes links 2 and 4, then thefirst route that includes links 1, 3, and 4 may be used for traffic tothe third STA 108C. Alternatively, if multiple metrics are used todetermine the route, a weighted score may be calculated for each routewith contributions from each of multiple metrics and the route with thehighest weighted score may be selected for traffic to the third STA108C. Other methods may be implemented to determine which of multipleroutes to use to send traffic to a given STA 108.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 6, evaluating the metric for eachof the at least two routes at block 404 may include determining at leastone of link quality, delay, number of hops, and jitter of the firstroute to the third STA 108C (links 1, 3, and 4) and of the second routeto the third STA 108C (links 2 and 4) and determining which of the firstroute and the second route has at least one of higher link quality,shorter delay, fewer hops, and lower jitter. Selecting the route basedon the metric at block 408 may include selecting the first route or thesecond route that has the at least one of higher link quality, shorterdelay, fewer hops, and lower jitter.

In another implementation, the method 400 may also include repeatedlyevaluating the metric over a period of time (e.g., an interval,threshold, countdown timer, staleness factor, trigger, etc.) for each ofthe at least two routes and/or nodes discovered in the topology. Themethod 400 may also include receiving multiple packets that identify thethird STA 108C as the intended destination of each of the packets. Themethod 400 may also include repeatedly selecting, over time, a route ofthe at least two routes over which to send the packets based on themetric. The method may also include sending, over time, each packet fromthe bridge 102 over the selected route. The selected route at any giventime may depend on the evaluated metric for each of the at least tworoutes at any given time such that a first packet may be sent over thefirst route (links 1, 3, and 4) at a first time and a second packet maybe sent over a second route at a second time (links 2 and 4).

In another implementation, the packet received at block 406 may includea first packet received at a first time and the selected route overwhich the first packet is sent may include the first route (links 1, 3,and 4). The method 400 may also include, after sending the first packetover the first route at block 410, re-evaluating the metric for each ofthe at least two routes. The method 400 may also include receiving asecond packet at a second time after the first time, the second packetidentifying the third STA 108C as the intended destination of the secondpacket. The method 400 may also include selecting the second route(links 2 and 4) over which to send the packet based on the metric, thesecond route being different than the first route. The method 400 mayalso include sending the second packet from the bridge 102 over thesecond route toward the third STA 108C.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate a third example use case of the bridge 102 ofFIG. 1, arranged in accordance with at least one implementationdescribed herein. FIG. 7A illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 700 at ahouse, building, or other location 702. The LAN 700 may include the AP106, the first STA 108A and the second STA 108B.

The first STA 108A may be directly connected to the AP 106 via a firstchannel 5 from the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A. There is asecond channel 6 from the AP 106 directly to the second STA 108B. Thesecond STA 108B may be directly connected to the bridge 102 via a thirdchannel 7 from the bridge 102 directly to the second STA 108B. There isalso a fourth channel (not labeled) from the bridge 102 directly to thefirst STA 108A.

The bridge 102 and the AP 106 may coordinate to simultaneously sendtraffic to the first and the second STAs 108A, 108B over, respectively,the first channel 5 and the third channel 7, while also actively nullingon the second channel 6 and/or the fourth channel.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 7A, the bridge 102 may coordinatewith the AP 106 to effect simultaneous transmission of: a first packetfrom the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A over the first channel 5included in the selected route, a nulling signal from the AP 106directly to the second STA 108B over the second channel 6, and a secondpacket from the bridge 102 directly to the second STA 108B over thethird channel 7. The nulling signal sent to the second STA 108B over thesecond channel 6 in this example may be configured to null interferenceat the second STA 108B from transmission of the first packet to thefirst STA 108A over the first channel 5. In an implementation, thebridge 102 may also transmit a nulling signal from the bridge 102directly to the first STA 108A over the fourth channel. The nullingsignal sent to the first STA 108A over the fourth channel in thisexample may be configured to null interference at the first STA 108Afrom transmission of the second packet to the second STA 108B over thethird channel 7. The method 400 may also include estimating channelsconditions of each of the first channel 5, the second channel 6, thethird channel 7, and/or the fourth channel. One or more of the estimatedchannel conditions may be used to generate the nulling signal.

Alternatively or additionally, the method 400 may also include receivinga second packet that identifies the second STA 108B as an intendeddestination of the second packet. Selecting the route over which to sendthe packet at block 408 may include selecting a route that includes thefirst channel 5 from the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A. Themethod 400 may also include selecting a second route over which to sendthe second packet, the second route including the third channel 7 fromthe bridge 102 directly to the second STA 108B. The method 400 may alsoinclude sending the first packet to the AP 106 to send to the first STA108A. The method 400 may also include coordinating with the AP 106 tosend the first packet to the first STA 108A over the first channel 5while simultaneously sending a nulling signal over the second channel 6from the AP 106 to the second STA 108B. The method 400 may also includesending the second packet to the second STA 108B over the third channel7 simultaneously with the AP 106 sending the first packet over the firstchannel 5 and the nulling signal over the second channel 6.

In another example implementation, the bridge 102 and the AP 106 maycoordinate to effect simultaneous packet transmission from the bridge102 to the AP 106 and active nulling from the AP 106 to one or both ofthe STAs 108A, 108B.

FIG. 7B illustrates example packet transmission timing for coordinatedtransmission according to FIG. 7A. As illustrated, the bridge 102 firstsends a first packet 704 to the AP 106. Subsequently, the AP 106 sendsthe first packet 704 to the first STA 108A, the AP 106 sends a nullingsignal 706 to the second STA 108B, and the bridge 102 sends a secondpacket 708 to the second STA 108B, all simultaneously or substantiallysimultaneously.

FIGS. 8A-8B illustrate a fourth example use case of the bridge 102 ofFIG. 1, arranged in accordance with at least one implementationdescribed herein. FIG. 8A illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 800 at ahouse, building, or other location 802. The LAN 800 may include the AP106 and the first STA 108A.

There is a first channel 8 between the AP 106 and the first STA 108A, asecond channel 9 between the bridge 102 and the first STA 108A, and athird channel 10 between the bridge 102 and the AP 106.

The bridge 102 and the AP 106 may coordinate to send the same trafficfrom both the bridge 102 and the AP 106 to the first STA 108A over thefirst channel 8 and the second channel 9 in a distributed MIMOarrangement. By coordinating, the bridge 102 and the AP 106 may form adistributed MIMO transmitter.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 8A, the bridge 102 may coordinatetransmission with the AP 106 to effect simultaneous transmission of: apacket over the first channel 8 from the AP 106 directly to the firstSTA 108A and the same packet over the second channel 9 from the bridge102 directly to the first STA 108A. Prior to the coordinatedtransmission, the method 400 may also include estimating channelsconditions of each of the first channel 8 and the second channel 9. Oneor more of the estimated channel conditions may be used to transmit thepacket from both the bridge 102 and the AP 106 to the first STA 108A.

Alternatively or additionally, selecting the route over which to sendthe packet at block 408 may include selecting a distributed MIMO routethat includes both the first channel 8 from the AP 106 directly to thefirst STA 108A and the second channel 9 from the bridge 102 directly tothe first STA 108A. The method 400 may also include sending the packetto the AP 106, e.g., via the third channel 10. The method may alsoinclude coordinating with the AP 106 to send the packet to the first STA108A over the first channel 8 while simultaneously sending the packet tothe first STA 108A over the second channel 9. Prior to the coordinatedtransmission, the method 400 may also include deriving first precodersto use for the first channel 8 and the second channel 9 when implementedas independent routes. The method 400 may also include deriving secondprecoders to use for the first channel 8 and the second channel 9 whenimplemented together as the distributed MIMO route.

FIG. 8B illustrates example packet transmission timing for coordinatedtransmission according to FIG. 8A. As illustrated, the bridge 102 firstsends a first packet 804 to the AP 106 via the third channel 10.Subsequently, the AP 106 sends the first packet 804 to the first STA108A via the first channel 8 while the bridge 102 also sends the firstpacket 804 to the first STA 108A, all simultaneously or substantiallysimultaneously.

FIG. 9A illustrates a fifth example use case of the bridge 102 of FIG.1, arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. FIG. 9A illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 900 at a house,building, or other location 902. The LAN 900 may include the AP 106 andthe first STA 108A. FIG. 9A also illustrates a first channel 11 betweenthe AP 106 and the first STA 108A, a second channel 12 between thebridge 102 and the first STA 108A, and a third channel 13 between thebridge 102 and the AP 106.

As already described, traffic may be transmitted from the bridge 102 tothe first STA 108A directly or through the AP 106 where the particularroute (e.g., direct or through the AP 106) may depend on, e.g., channelconditions of each of the routes. Alternatively, different traffic withat least one nulling signal may be simultaneously transmitted from thebridge 102 and the AP 106 to the first and second STAs 108A and 108B asdescribed with respect to FIGS. 7A and 7B and/or traffic may betransmitted to the first STA 108 from both the bridge 102 and the AP 106in a distributed MIMO arrangement as described with respect to FIGS. 8Aand 8B.

Alternatively or additionally, main transmissions may be sent over oneroute, such as from the bridge 102 to the AP 106 to the first STA 108A,while any retransmissions may be sent over another route, such as fromthe bridge 102 directly to the first STA 108A.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 9A, the method 400 may alsoinclude selecting a first route that includes either the first channel11 from the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A or the second channel12 from the bridge 102 directly to the first STA 108A over which to sendpacket transmissions to the first STA 108A. The method 400 may alsoinclude selecting a second route that includes the other of the secondchannel 12 from the bridge 102 directly to the first STA 108A or thefirst channel 11 from the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A overwhich to send packet retransmissions to the first STA 108A. The method400 may also include sending packet transmissions to the first STA 108Aover the selected first route. The method 400 may also include sendingpacket retransmissions to the first STA 108A over the selected secondroute.

In another implementation, selecting the route over which to send thepacket at block 408 may include selecting a route that includes one ofthe first channel 11 from the AP directly to the first STA 108A or thesecond channel 12 from the bridge 102 directly to the first STA 108A.Sending the packet over the selected route at block 410 may includesending the packet over one of the first channel 11 or the secondchannel 12 to the first STA 108A. The method 400 may also include, ifthe packet is sent over the first channel 11, retransmitting the packetfrom the bridge 102 directly to the first STA 108A over the secondchannel 12. Alternatively, the method 400 may also include, if thepacket is sent over the second channel 12, retransmitting the packetfrom the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A over the first channel11.

FIG. 9B illustrates example packet transmission timing according to FIG.9A. As illustrated, the bridge 102 first sends a first packet 904 to theAP 106 via the third channel 13. Subsequently, the AP 106 sends thefirst packet 904 to the first STA 108A via the first channel 11.Subsequently, retransmission of the first packet 904 is sent from thebridge 102 to the first STA 108A via the second channel 12.

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate a sixth example use case of the bridge 102,arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 1000 at ahouse, building, or other location 1002. The LAN 1000 may include the AP106 and/or the first STA 108A.

The bridge 102 may improve coverage for STAs 108 such as the first STA108A that have associated with the AP 106 in the past and move tolocations with inadequate coverage from the AP 106 and with adequatecoverage from the bridge 102. For example, referring to FIG. 10A, thefirst STA 108A may associate with the AP 106 within the house 1002 wherethe AP 106 has adequate coverage for a connection. As illustrated inFIG. 10B, however, if the first STA 108A moves to a location outside ofthe house 1002 or otherwise outside a coverage area of the AP 106 andwithin a coverage area of the bridge 102, the bridge 102 may extendcoverage to the first STA 108A.

The bridge 102 may periodically or in response to a trigger replicate aBSS of the AP 106. If link setup occurs, e.g., if the first STA 108Asends an association request to the bridge 102, the bridge 102 maymaintain the BSS and establish a link directly between the first STA 108and the bridge 102 to send traffic to the first STA 108 while bypassingthe AP 106.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4, 10A, and 10B, sending the packetfrom the bridge 102 over the selected route at block 410 may includesending the packet to the AP 106 for the AP 106 to send to the first STA108A over a first link from the AP 106 directly to the first STA 108A inthe arrangement illustrated in FIG. 10A. The method 400 may also includereplicating a BSS of the AP 106 at the bridge 102. The method 400 mayalso include establishing a second link directly between the first STAand the bridge 102 in response to the bridge replicating the BSS of theAP 106. The method 400 may also include sending additional packets tothe first STA 108A over the second link. The bridge 102 may periodicallyreplicate the BSS and maintain it when the first STA 108A or another STA108 associates with the bridge 102. Alternatively or additionally, thebridge 102 may replicate the BSS in response to a BSS-replicationtrigger and may maintain it when the first STA 108A or another STA 108associates with the bridge 102.

The BSS-replication trigger may include a determination that a firstinterference level of the first link exceeds: a threshold interferencelevel or a second interference level of the second link. Alternativelyor additionally, the BSS-replication trigger may include a determinationthat a first RSSI of the first link is less than: a threshold RSSI or asecond RSSI of the second link. Alternatively or additionally, theBSS-replication trigger may include a command from the AP 106.

The bridge 102 may terminate the BSS and the second link in response toa BSS-termination trigger. The BSS-termination trigger may include adetermination that the second interference level of the second linkexceeds: the threshold interference level or the first interferencelevel of the first link. Alternatively or additionally, theBSS-termination trigger may include a determination that the second RSSIof the second link is less than: the threshold RSSI or the first RSSI ofthe first link. Alternatively or additionally, the BSS-terminationtrigger may include a command from the AP 106.

FIG. 11 illustrates a seventh example use case of the bridge 102,arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. FIG. 11 illustrates the bridge 102, the base station 104, asecond reconfigurable multi-radio bridge 1102 (“second bridge 1102”), athird reconfigurable multi-radio bridge 1104 (“third bridge 1104”), andhouses, buildings, or other locations 1106, 1108 that may be in arespective coverage area of the corresponding second or third bridges1102, 1104.

The third bridge 1104 and/or the location 1108 may be shadowed from thebase station 104 or may otherwise lack adequate coverage from the basestation. The bridge 102 may extend the backhaul link 112 to the thirdbridge 1104 by providing the backhaul relay link 118 to the third bridge1104. In this implementation, the first and second reconfigurable radiosR₁ and R₂ of the bridge 102 may be configured to operate at the samefrequency and/or frequency band, and in particular within a frequencyband that may be reserved for and/or associated with wireless backhaullinks.

Alternatively or additionally, the second bridge 1102 may adaptivelyreconfigure itself to selectively provide a WAP link 1110 to the thirdbridge 1104 and a backhaul relay link 1112 to the third bridge 1104. Forexample, the second radio R₂ of the second bridge 1102 may adaptivelyreconfigure itself to provide the WAP link 1110 by operating at the samefrequency band as the second radio R₂ of the third bridge 1104 or toprovide the backhaul relay link 1112 by operating at the same frequencyband as the first radio R₁ of the third bridge 1104.

Accordingly, in an implementation, the, bridge 102 may be programmed asa backhaul relay and may not collect and/or evaluate metrics and/oradaptively change or adjust the transmission method.

Alternatively, the bridge 102 may adaptively configure itself as abackhaul relay responsive to the collection and measurement of one ormore metrics. With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 11, for example,the bridge 102 may provide the backhaul link 112 to the base station104. Evaluating the metric for each of at least two routes discovered inthe topology at block 404 may include evaluating a metric for a firstroute that reaches a first STA, e.g., in a LAN at the house 1108,through the backhaul relay link 118 to the third bridge 1104 and asecond route that bypasses the third bridge 1104 to reach the first STA.Selecting the route at block 408 may include selecting the first route.Sending the packet from the bridge 102 over the selected route towardthe first STA at block 410 may include sending the packet to the thirdbridge 1104 over the backhaul relay link 118.

FIG. 12 illustrates an eighth example use case of the bridge 102,arranged in accordance with at least one implementation describedherein. FIG. 12 illustrates the bridge 102 and a LAN 1200 at a house,building, or other location 1202. The LAN 1200 may include the AP 106,the first STA 108A, the second STA 108B, and the third STA 108C.

In the example of FIG. 12, the bridge 102 may have fixed roleprogramming as a bridge between the backhaul network and the LAN 1200.Accordingly, the bridge 102 in the example of FIG. 12 may not collectand/or evaluate metrics and/or adaptively change or adjust thetransmission method.

Implementations described herein may alternatively or additionallyimplement NAV sharing, with or without a reconfigurable multi-radiobridge. NAV sharing may generally include sharing a single NAV acrosstwo or more hops of a multi-hop transmission. By sharing the NAV,channel access done at a first node may be used to access and reserve asufficient transmission window for multiple hops without having to dochannel access at a second (or more) downstream node(s) from the firstnode. Accordingly, NAV sharing may reduce overhead, decrease delay,and/or provide other benefits.

In an example implementation of NAV sharing, a first node receivestraffic, such as a data packet, for a destination node. The network mayfurther include an intermediate node between the first node and thedestination node where traffic from the first node to the destinationnode is routed through the intermediate node. The first node mayestimate a total duration of time to transmit the packet from the firstnode to the destination node through the intermediate node and/orthrough multiple hops.

Some networks impose constraints on transmission windows such as amaximum or threshold duration of time per transmission window. Reservinga transmission window with a duration in excess of the maximum orthreshold duration may not be permitted. Accordingly, if the totalduration of time for the multi hop transmission is less than the maximumor threshold duration, the first node may reserve a shared transmissionwindow for the entire multi hop transaction and send the packet to thedestination node through the intermediate node. Alternatively oradditionally, MCS of each of the channel between the first node and theintermediate node and the channel between the intermediate node and thedestination node may be calculated and/or analyzed to determine whetherthe multi hop transaction may be completed within a transmission windowless than the maximum or threshold duration.

The first node may reserve the shared transmission window for multiplehops, as opposed to the first node reserving a transmission window forthe first hop and the intermediate node reserving a transmission windowfor the second hop, in any suitable manner. For example, the sharedtransmission window may be reserved using a request to send (RTS)/clearto send (CTS)-2 exchange.

Alternatively or additionally, the first node and the intermediate nodemay handshake in advance to establish NAV sharing for packets ofsuitable size intended for the destination node. A suitable size mayrefer to any size packet that may be transmitted from the first node tothe intermediate node to the destination node within a sharedtransmission window less than the maximum or threshold duration. Theupper limit for the suitable size may depend on the channels from thefirst node to the intermediate node and the intermediate node to thedestination node. For example, the upper limit suitable size forchannels with a first channel quality and/or throughput may be less thanthe upper limit suitable size for channels with a higher second channelquality and/or throughput.

To reserve the shared transmission window, the first node may specify acorresponding transmit opportunity (TXOP) in the packet header. When theintermediate node receives the packet for the destination node where thepacket has a suitable size, the intermediate node may transmit thepacket to the destination without separately reserving the channel. Anexample of NAV sharing with the bridge 102 will now be described withrespect to FIGS. 13A and 13B

FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate a ninth example use case of areconfigurable multi-radio bridge, arranged in accordance with at leastone implementation described herein. FIG. 13 illustrates the bridge 102and a LAN 1300 at a house, building, or other location 1302. The LAN1300 may include the AP 106 and the first STA 108A.

With combined reference to FIGS. 4 and 13A, evaluating the metric foreach of the at least two routes at block 404 may include evaluating themetric for a first link from the AP 106 to the first STA 108A and for asecond link from the bridge 102 to the first STA 108A and determiningthat the first link has a better metric than the second link. Selectingthe route based on the metric at block 408 may include selecting thefirst link. The method 400 may also include determining a total durationor shared transmission window to send the packet from the bridge 102 tothe AP 106 and from the AP 106 to the first STA 108A. The method 400 mayalso include reserving a TXOP equal to or greater than the totalduration. Sending the packet from the bridge 102 over the selected routetoward the first STA 108A at block 410 may include sending the packetfrom the bridge 102 to the AP 106 during a first portion of the reservedTXOP. The AP 106 may then send the packet to the first STA 108A during aremainder portion of the reserved TXOP, e.g., without separatelyreserving a TXOP.

FIG. 13B illustrates example packet transmission timing according toFIG. 13A. As illustrated, the bridge 102 first sends a packet 1304 tothe AP 106 and reserves a transmission window TXOP having a greaterduration than the duration to send the packet 1304 from the bridge 102to the AP 106. Subsequently, the AP 106 sends an Ack 1306 to the bridge102 and sends the packet 1304 to the first STA 108A. Subsequently, thefirst STA 108A sends an Ack 1308 to the AP 106.

Unless specific arrangements are mutually exclusive with one another,the various implementations described herein can be combined to enhancesystem functionality and/or to produce complementary functions. Suchcombinations will be readily appreciated by the skilled addressee giventhe totality of the foregoing description. Likewise, aspects of theimplementations may be implemented in standalone arrangements where morelimited and thus specific component functionality is provided withineach of the interconnected—and therefore interacting—system componentsalbeit that, in sum, they together support, realize and produce thedescribed real-world effect(s). Indeed, it will be understood thatunless features in the particular implementations are expresslyidentified as incompatible with one another or the surrounding contextimplies that they are mutually exclusive and not readily combinable in acomplementary and/or supportive sense, the totality of this disclosurecontemplates and envisions that specific features of those complementaryimplementations can be selectively combined to provide one or morecomprehensive, but slightly different, technical solutions. It with,therefore, be appreciated that the above description has been given byway of example only and that modification in detail may be made withinthe scope of the present invention.

An example apparatus can include a Wireless Access Point (WAP) or astation and incorporating a VLSI processor and program code to support.An example transceiver couples via an integral modem to one of a cable,fiber or digital subscriber backbone connection to the Internet tosupport wireless communications, e.g. IEEE 802.11 compliantcommunications, on a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The WiFi stageincludes a baseband stage, and the analog front end (AFE) and RadioFrequency (RF) stages. In the baseband portion wireless communicationstransmitted to or received from each user/client/station are processed.The AFE and RF portion handles the upconversion on each of transmitpaths of wireless transmissions initiated in the baseband. The RFportion also handles the downconversion of the signals received on thereceive paths and passes them for further processing to the baseband.

An example apparatus can be multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)apparatus supporting as many as N×N discrete communication streams overN antennas. In an example the MIMO apparatus signal processing units canbe implemented as N×N. In various embodiments, the value of N can be 4,6, 8, 12, 16, etc. Extended MIMO operation enable the use of up to 2Nantennae in communication with another similarly equipped wirelesssystem. It should be noted that extended MIMO systems can communicatewith other wireless systems even if the systems do not have the samenumber of antennae, but some of the antennae of one of the stationsmight not be utilized, reducing optimal performance.

CSI from any of the communication links described herein can beextracted independent of changes related to channel state parameters andused for spatial diagnosis services of the network such as motiondetection, proximity detection, and localization which can be utilizedin, for example, WLAN diagnosis, home security, health care monitoring,smart home utility control, elder care, and the like.

Embodiments described herein may be implemented using computer-readablemedia for carrying or having computer-executable instructions or datastructures stored thereon. Such computer-readable media may be anyavailable media that may be accessed by a general-purpose orspecial-purpose computer. By way of example, such computer-readablemedia may include non-transitory computer-readable storage mediaincluding Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM),Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), CompactDisc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, flash memory devices(e.g., solid state memory devices), or any other storage medium whichmay be used to carry or store desired program code in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which may beaccessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. Combinationsof the above may also be included within the scope of computer-readablemedia.

Computer-executable instructions may include, for example, instructionsand data which cause a general-purpose computer, special-purposecomputer, or special-purpose processing device (e.g., one or moreprocessors) to perform or control performance of a certain function orgroup of functions. Although the subject matter has been described inlanguage specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, itis to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appendedclaims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actsdescribed above. Rather, the specific features and acts described aboveare disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

As used herein, the terms “module” or “component” may refer to specifichardware implementations configured to perform the operations of themodule or component and/or software objects or software routines thatmay be stored on and/or executed by general-purpose hardware (e.g.,computer-readable media, processing devices, etc.) of the computingsystem. In some implementations, the different components, modules,engines, and services described herein may be implemented as objects orprocesses that execute on the computing system (e.g., as separatethreads). While some of the system and methods described herein aregenerally described as being implemented in software (stored on and/orexecuted by general-purpose hardware), specific hardware implementationsor a combination of software and specific hardware implementations arealso possible and contemplated. In this description, a “computingentity” may be any computing system as previously defined herein, or anymodule or combination of modulates running on a computing system.

Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations within a computer.These algorithmic descriptions and symbolic representations are themeans used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey theessence of their innovations to others skilled in the art. An algorithmis a series of defined operations leading to a desired end state orresult. In example implementations, the operations carried out requirephysical manipulations of tangible quantities for achieving a tangibleresult.

As is known in the art, the operations described above can be performedby hardware, software, or some combination of software and hardware.Various aspects of the example implementations may be implemented usingcircuits and logic devices (hardware), while other aspects may beimplemented using instructions stored on a machine-readable medium(software), which if executed by a processor, would cause the processorto perform a method to carry out implementations of the presentapplication.

For example, implementations of the reconfigurable multi-bridgedescribed in FIG. 4 one or more processors can be configured to discoverconnection options for nodes in a network.

To control communication with a node of the network, the processor canevaluate metrics for each route for the node based on the communicationmetrics. In an example method, the processor receives a packet thatidentifies the node, selects a route over which to send the packet basedon the evaluated metrics, and sends the packet from a reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA. Theprocessor can receive a packet in a first frequency band and sendpackets in a second frequency band different from the first frequencyband.

In an example implementation, the network includes an access point,where evaluating the metric for each the routes includes determininglink quality of a first link between the AP and the first STA and of asecond link between the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge and the firstSTA and determining which of the first link and the second link hashigher link quality. Then selecting the route can be based on the metricincluding selecting the first link or the second link that has thehigher link quality. In another example, the first link can bedetermined to have higher link quality than the second link, the firstlink is selected as the route that has the higher link quality; and thesending the packet over the selected route includes sending the packetfrom the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the AP for the AP to sendto the first STA. Further, the second link can be determined to havehigher link quality than the first link, then the second link isselected as the route that has the higher link quality; and the sendingthe packet over the selected route includes sending the packet from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA.

In another example implementation, the network includes an access pointand evaluates metrics routes by determining at least one of linkquality, delay, number of hops, and jitter. The processor can select anoptimal route based on the metrics with at least one of higher linkquality, shorter delay, fewer hops, and lower jitter.

The processor can also repeatedly evaluate the metric over time for eachof the routes discovered associated with the station; repeatedlydetermine, over time, an optimal route based on recalculated metrics orchanges in the LAN performance; and send, over time, each packet of theplurality of packets from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge overdifferent selected route based on the repeatedly determined optimalroute.

In another example implementation, the processor can after send a firstpacket over the first route, re-evaluating the metric for each of the atleast two routes; receive a second packet at a second time after thefirst time, the second packet identifying the first STA as the intendeddestination of the second packet; select a second route of the at leasttwo routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, the secondroute being different than the first route; and send the second packetfrom the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the second route towardthe first STA.

In an example, the processor can coordinate with an AP to effectsimultaneous transmission of: the packet from the AP directly to thefirst STA over a first channel included in the selected route; a nullingsignal from the AP directly to the second STA over a second channel; anda second packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly tothe second STA over a third channel. Further, the processor can estimatechannels conditions of each of the first channel, the second channel,and the third channel.

The processor can estimate channel conditions of each channel from theAP directly to a first STA, each channel from the AP directly to asecond STA, and each channel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridgedirectly to the second STA. Then in response to the processor receivinga second packet that identifies the second STA as an intendeddestination of the second packet, it selects the route over which tosend the packet includes selecting a route that includes the firstchannel from the AP directly to the first STA; selecting a second routeover which to send the second packet, the second route including thethird channel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to thesecond STA. The processor can send the first packet to the AP to send tothe first STA; coordinate with the AP to send the first packet to thefirst STA over the first channel while simultaneously sending a nullingsignal over the second channel from the AP to the second STA; andsending the second packet to the second STA over the third channelsimultaneously with the AP sending the first packet over the firstchannel and the nulling signal over the second channel. The processorcan coordinate with an AP to effect simultaneous transmission of apacket over a first channel from the AP directly to the first STA; andthe packet over a second channel from the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge directly to the first STA.

In some examples, the network further an access point and the processorestimates channel conditions of each of a first channel from the APdirectly to the first STA and a second channel from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge directly to the first STA; and selects the route overwhich to send the packet includes selecting a distributed multiple inputmultiple output (MIMO) route that includes both the first channel fromthe AP directly to the first STA and the second channel from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA. Then theprocessor can send the packet to the AP and/or coordinate with the AP tosend the packet to the first STA over the first channel whilesimultaneously sending the packet to the first STA over the secondchannel. The processor can further derive first precoders to use for thefirst channel and the second channel when implemented as independentroutes; and derive second precoders to use for the first channel and thesecond channel when implemented together as the distributed MIMO route.

In an example implementation where the network has an AP, then theprocessor can select a first route that includes either a first channelfrom the AP directly to the first STA or a second channel from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA over whichto send packet transmissions to the first STA; and select a second routethat includes the other of the second channel from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge directly to the first STA or the first channel fromthe AP directly to the first STA over which to send packetretransmissions to the first STA. Then packet transmissions can be sentto the first STA over the selected first route; and additional packetretransmissions to the first STA over the selected second route.

Further, selecting the route over which to send the packet includesselecting a route can includes one of a first channel from the APdirectly to the first STA or a second channel from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge directly to the first STA; and sending the packetover the selected route includes sending the packet over one of thefirst channel or the second channel to the first STA. Then the processorcan determine if the packet is sent over the first channel to retransmitthe packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to thefirst STA over the second channel; or if the packet is sent over thesecond channel, retransmit the packet from the AP directly to the firstSTA over the first channel.

In another example, sending the packet from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge over the selected route can include sending thepacket to the AP for the AP to send to the first STA over a first linkfrom the AP directly to the first STA. Then the processor replicates abasic service set (BSS) of the AP at the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge; establishes a second link directly between the first STA and thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge; and sends additional packets to thefirst STA over the second link.

In some examples, the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge periodicallyreplicates the BSS, or the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge replicatesthe BSS in response to a BSS-replication trigger. The BSS-replicationtrigger can include one or more of: a determination that a firstinterference level of the first link exceeds: a threshold interferencelevel or a second interference level of the second link; a determinationthat a first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the first linkis less than: a threshold RSSI or a second RSSI of the second link; anda command from the AP. In response to a BSS-termination trigger, the BSSand the second link can be terminated.

In another example implementation, the reconfigurable multi-radio bridgeprovides a backhaul link to a base station. Then the processor canevaluate a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in thetopology includes evaluating a metric for a first route that reaches thefirst STA through a backhaul relay link to a second reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge and a second route that bypasses the secondreconfigurable multi-radio bridge to reach the first STA; select theroute includes selecting the first route; and send the packet from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward thefirst STA includes sending the packet to the second reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge over the backhaul relay link.

In an example where the network includes a second reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge, the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge can provide abackhaul link to a base station; and the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge can adaptively reconfigure itself to selectively provide: awireless access point (WAP) link to the second reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge; and a backhaul relay link to the secondreconfigurable multi-radio bridge.

For a network with an AP, the processor can evaluate the metric for eachof the at least two routes to evaluate the metric for a first link fromthe AP to the first STA and for a second link from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge to the first STA and determining that the first linkhas a better metric than the second link; select the route based on themetric including selecting the first link. Then the processor candetermine a total duration to send the packet from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge to the AP and from the AP to the first STA; andreserve a transmit opportunity (TXOP) equal to the total duration.Sending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over theselected route toward the first STA can include sending the packet fromthe reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the AP during a first portionof the reserved TXOP; and the AP can send the packet to the first STAduring a remainder portion of the reserved TXOP.

Evaluating the metric for each of the at least two routes can includecombinations of supported modulation and coding scheme (MCS); receivedsignal strength indicator (RSSI); clear channel assessment (CCA) level;interference; estimated throughput; airtime; traffic priority; routecongestion; and/or bridge/WAP load.

In an implementation, an example reconfigurable multi-radio bridgeincludes a first reconfigurable radio with a first transmit/receive(TX/RX) channel and a second TX/RX channel, where the firstreconfigurable radio is configured to selectively transmit and receivedata on the first TX/RX channel or the second TX/RX channel; and asecond reconfigurable radio with a third TX/RX channel and a fourthTX/RX channel, where the second reconfigurable radio is configured toselectively transmit and receive data on the third TX/RX channel or thefourth TX/RX channel.

The example reconfigurable multi-radio bridge can be configured for thefirst TX/RX channel to include a first baseband (BB) circuit, a firstradio frequency (RF) circuit, a first front end module (FEM), and afirst antenna; the second TX/RX channel to include the first BB circuit,a second FEM, and a second antenna; the third TX/RX channel includes asecond BB circuit, a second RF circuit, a third FEM, and a thirdantenna; and the fourth TX/RX channel to include the second BB circuit,a fourth FEM, and a fourth antenna. Then, in an example, the secondTX/RX channel can further include the first RF circuit or a third RFcircuit; and the fourth TX/RX channel can further include the second RFcircuit or a fourth RF circuit.

In another example, the first TX/RX channel is configured to transmitand receive data in a different frequency band than the second TX/RXchannel; and the third TX/RX channel is configured to transmit andreceive data in a different frequency band than the fourth TX/RXchannel. Then the example reconfigurable multi-radio bridge canconfigure the first TX/RX channel to transmit and receive data in afirst frequency band selected from a 6 gigahertz (GHz) band, a 28 GHzband, and a 60 GHz band; and the second TX/RX channel is configured totransmit and receive data in a second frequency band selected from a 2.4GHz band and a 5 GHz band.

A phrase such as “an aspect” does not imply that such aspect isessential to the subject technology or that such aspect applies to allconfigurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to anaspect may apply to all configurations, or one or more configurations.An aspect may provide one or more examples of the disclosure. A phrasesuch as “an aspect” may refer to one or more aspects and vice versa. Aphrase such as “an embodiment” or “an implementation” does not implythat such embodiment or implementation is essential to the subjecttechnology or that such embodiment or implementation applies to allconfigurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to anembodiment or implementation may apply to all embodiments orimplementations, or one or more embodiments or implementations. Anembodiment or implementation may provide one or more examples of thedisclosure. A phrase such as “an embodiment” or “an implementation” mayrefer to one or more embodiments or implementations and vice versa. Aphrase such as “a configuration” does not imply that such configurationis essential to the subject technology or that such configurationapplies to all configurations of the subject technology. A disclosurerelating to a configuration may apply to all configurations, or one ormore configurations. A configuration may provide one or more examples ofthe disclosure. A phrase such as “a configuration” may refer to one ormore configurations and vice versa.

A reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “oneand only one” unless specifically stated, but rather “one or more.”Pronouns in the masculine (e.g., his) include the feminine and neutergender (e.g., her and its) and vice versa. The term “some” refers to oneor more. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicatedto the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitlyrecited in the above description.

The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particularimplementations described herein, which are intended as illustrations ofvarious aspects. Many modifications and variations can be made withoutdeparting from its spirit and scope. Functionally equivalent methods andapparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to thoseenumerated herein, are possible from the foregoing descriptions. Suchmodifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope ofthis disclosure. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescribing particular implementations only, and is not intended to belimiting.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

In general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims(e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open”terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “includingbut not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “havingat least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but isnot limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation isintended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and inthe absence of such recitation, no such intent is present. For example,as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may containusage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” tointroduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should notbe construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by theindefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containingsuch introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only onesuch recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductoryphrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as“a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., thebare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means atleast two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, inthose instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B,and C, etc.” is used, in general, such a construction is intended in thesense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g.,“a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not belimited to systems that include A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and Ctogether, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general, such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” wouldinclude but not be limited to systems that include A alone, B alone, Calone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those withinthe art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting twoor more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, ordrawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities ofincluding one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. Forexample, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include thepossibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are describedin terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individualmember or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

For any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a writtendescription, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and allpossible sub ranges and combinations of sub ranges thereof. Any listedrange can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enablingthe same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds,quarters, fifths, tenths, and/or others. As a non-limiting example, eachrange discussed herein can be readily broken down into a lower third,middle third and upper third, etc. All language such as “up to,” “atleast,” and the like include the number recited and refer to rangeswhich can be subsequently broken down into sub ranges as discussedabove. Finally, a range includes each individual member. Thus, forexample, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2,3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.

From the foregoing, various implementations of the present disclosurehave been described herein for purposes of illustration, and variousmodifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe present disclosure. Accordingly, the various implementationsdisclosed herein are not intended to be limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: discovering a topology of anetwork that includes a first wireless station (STA), a second STA, andan access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each of at least tworoutes discovered in the topology; receiving a first packet thatidentifies the first STA as an intended destination of the first packet;selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send thefirst packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routesreaching the first STA; sending the first packet from a reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA; andcoordinating with the AP to effect simultaneous transmission of: thefirst packet from the AP directly to the first STA over a first channelincluded in the selected route; a nulling signal from the AP directly tothe second STA over a second channel; and a second packet from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the second STA over athird channel.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprisesreceiving the first packet in a first frequency band and the sendingcomprises sending the first packet in a second frequency band differentfrom the first frequency band.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving comprises converting a carrier frequency into an intermediatefrequency.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending comprisesconverting a baseband signal into an intermediate frequency.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising coordinating with the AP to effectsimultaneous transmission of: a third packet over the first channel fromthe AP directly to the first STA; and the third packet over a fourthchannel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA.6. A method, comprising: discovering a topology of a network thatincludes a wireless station (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluating ametric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology;receiving a packet that identifies the STA as an intended destination ofthe packet; selecting a route of the at least two routes over which tosend the packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routesreaching the STA, wherein the selecting comprises selecting a route thatincludes one of a first channel from the AP directly to the STA or asecond channel from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to theSTA; sending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge overthe selected route toward the STA, wherein the sending comprises sendingthe packet over one of the first channel or the second channel to theSTA; and one of: in response to the packet being sent over the firstchannel, retransmitting the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge directly to the STA over the second channel; or in response tothe packet being sent over the second channel, retransmitting the packetfrom the AP directly to the STA over the first channel.
 7. A method,comprising: discovering a topology of a network that includes a wirelessstation (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each ofat least two routes discovered in the topology; receiving a packet thatidentifies the STA as an intended destination of the packet; selecting aroute of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based onthe metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the STA; sendingthe packet from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selectedroute toward the STA, wherein the sending comprises sending the packetto the AP for the AP to send to the STA over a first link from the APdirectly to the STA; replicating a basic service set (BSS) of the AP atthe reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; establishing a second linkdirectly between the STA and the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; andsending additional packets to the STA over the second link.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein at least one of: the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge periodically replicates the BSS; and thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge replicates the BSS in response to aBSS-replication trigger.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein theBSS-replication trigger comprises at least one of: a determination thata first interference level of the first link exceeds: a thresholdinterference level or a second interference level of the second link; adetermination that a first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) ofthe first link is less than: a threshold RSSI or a second RSSI of thesecond link; and a command from the AP.
 10. The method of claim 7,further comprising terminating the BSS and the second link in responseto a BSS-termination trigger.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein theevaluating the metric for each of the at least two routes compriseevaluating at least one of: supported modulation and coding scheme(MCS), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), clear channelassessment (CCA) level, interference, estimated throughput, airtime,traffic priority, route congestion, and bridge/WAP load.
 12. A method,comprising: discovering a topology of a network that includes a wirelessstation (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each ofat least two routes discovered in the topology, including evaluating themetric for a first link from the AP to the STA and for a second linkfrom a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the STA and determining thatthe first link has a better metric than the second link; receiving apacket that identifies the STA as an intended destination of the packet;selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send thepacket based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching theSTA, wherein the selecting the route based on the metric comprisesselecting the first link; determining a total duration to send thepacket from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the AP and from theAP to the STA; and reserving a transmit opportunity (TXOP) equal to thetotal duration; and sending the packet from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge over the selected route toward the STA, includingsending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the APduring a first portion of the reserved TXOP; wherein the AP sends thepacket to the STA during a remainder portion of the reserved TXOP.
 13. Areconfigurable multi-radio bridge, comprising: a first reconfigurableradio comprising a first transmit/receive (TX/RX) channel and a secondTX/RX channel, wherein the first reconfigurable radio is configured toselectively transmit and receive data on the first TX/RX channel or thesecond TX/RX channel; and a second reconfigurable radio comprising athird TX/RX channel and a fourth TX/RX channel, wherein the secondreconfigurable radio is configured to selectively transmit and receivedata on the third TX/RX channel or the fourth TX/RX channel, wherein thefirst TX/RX channel comprises a first baseband (BB) circuit and thesecond TX/RX channel comprises the same first BB circuit; wherein thethird TX/RX channel comprises a second BB circuit and the fourth TX/RXchannel comprises the same second BB circuit; and wherein to selectivelytransmit and receive data, the first reconfigurable radio and the secondreconfigurable radio are configured to: discover a topology of a networkthat includes a wireless station (STA) and an access point (AP);evaluate a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in thetopology; receive a packet that identifies the STA as an intendeddestination of the packet; select a route of the at least two routesover which to send the first packet based on the metric, each of the atleast two routes reaching the STA, wherein select a route comprisesselect a route that includes one of a first channel from the AP directlyto the STA or a second channel from the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge directly to the STA; send the packet from the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge over the selected route toward the STA, wherein sendthe packet comprises send the packet over one of the first channel orthe second channel to the STA; and one of: in response to the packetbeing sent over the first channel, retransmit the packet from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA over the secondchannel; or in response to the packet being sent over the secondchannel, retransmit the packet from the AP directly to the STA over thefirst channel.
 14. The reconfigurable multi-radio bridge of claim 13,wherein: the first TX/RX channel further comprises a first radiofrequency (RF) circuit, a first front end module (FEM), and a firstantenna; the second TX/RX channel further comprises a second FEM and asecond antenna; the third TX/RX channel further comprises a second RFcircuit, a third FEM, and a third antenna; and the fourth TX/RX channelfurther comprises a fourth FEM and a fourth antenna.
 15. Areconfigurable multi-radio bridge system comprising: a network; amemory; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, where theprocessor configured to: discover a topology of the network thatincludes one or more wireless stations (STAs) and an access point (AP);evaluate a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in thetopology; receive a packet that identifies a first STA of the one ormore STAs as an intended destination of the packet; select a route ofthe at least two routes over which to send the packet based on themetric, each of the at least two routes reaching the first STA; send thepacket from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected routetoward the first STA; and coordinate with the AP to enable simultaneoustransmission of: the packet over a first channel from the AP directly tothe first STA; and the packet over a second channel from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the network further includes a second STA asone of the one or more STAs and the processor is further configured tocoordinate with the AP to enable simultaneous transmission of: a secondpacket from the AP directly to the first STA over the first channelincluded in the selected route; a nulling signal from the AP directly tothe second STA over a second channel; and a third packet from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the second STA over athird channel.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: receive a second packet that identifies the firstSTA as an intended destination of the second packet, select a route ofthe at least two routes over which to send the second packet based onthe metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the first STA,wherein selecting the route over which to send the second packetcomprises selecting a route that includes one of the first channel fromthe AP directly to the first STA or the second channel from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA; and sendingthe second packet over the selected route, including sending the secondpacket over one of the first channel or the second channel to the firstSTA, the processor is further configured to: in response to the secondpacket being sent over the first channel, retransmit the second packetfrom the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STAover the second channel; or in response to the second packet being sentover the second channel, retransmit the second packet from the APdirectly to the first STA over the first channel.
 18. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive asecond packet that identifies the first STA as an intended destinationof the second packet, select a route of the at least two routes overwhich to send the second packet based on the metric, each of the atleast two routes reaching the first STA; send the second packet from thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward thefirst STA, including sending the second packet to the AP for the AP tosend to the first STA over a first link from the AP directly to thefirst STA; replicate a basic service set (BSS) of the AP at thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge; establish a second link directlybetween the first STA and the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; andsend additional packets to the first STA over the second link.
 19. Thesystem of claim 18, wherein at least one of: the reconfigurablemulti-radio bridge periodically replicates the BSS; and thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge replicates the BSS in response to aBSS-replication trigger.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein: the systemfurther comprises the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge comprises a first reconfigurable radioand a second reconfigurable radio; the first reconfigurable radiocomprises a millimeter (mm) wave radio; and the second reconfigurableradio comprises a centimeter (cm) wave radio.
 21. The system of claim15, wherein: the system further comprises the reconfigurable multi-radiobridge; the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge comprises a firstreconfigurable radio and a second reconfigurable radio; the firstreconfigurable radio is configured to operate in a 60 gigahertz (GHz)band; and the second reconfigurable radio is configured to operate in atleast one of a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, or a 6 GHz band.
 22. Thereconfigurable multi-radio bridge of claim 13, wherein: the firstreconfigurable radio comprises a millimeter (mm) wave radio; and thesecond reconfigurable radio comprises a centimeter (cm) wave radio. 23.The reconfigurable multi-radio bridge of claim 13, wherein: the firstreconfigurable radio is configured to operate in a 60 gigahertz (GHz)band; and the second reconfigurable radio is configured to operate in atleast one of a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, or a 6 GHz band.